This dissertation examines the influence of the state police law enforcement academy on the performance of commissioned officers in the field training officer (FTO) program in a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The law enforcement training academy is paramount in preparing cadets for the roles, responsibilities, and activities that graduates assume independently in the field. As such, it is important to understand the value added to future performance in the field through adequate preparation in the training academy. This dissertation analyzes a sample of officers in the Southeastern region of the United States and explores the relationship between their performance as cadets in the academy and their performance as commissioned officers in the field training officer program. Further, this study examines the existence of differences in performance among the various troops of the selected state law enforcement agency.
Through stepwise regression, the researcher concluded that the law enforcement training academy accounts for between 2.3% and 17.6% of the performance variance of newly commissioned officers in the field officer training program. Further, through an analysis of variance, the researcher concluded that there are significant differences in at least one of the performance variables selected throughout the troops of the agency.
The researcher recommended further analysis of the law enforcement curriculum and of the field training officer program. This research should focus on the specific goals and objectives of the FTO program to ensure that the curriculum taught in the academy is properly aligned with the performance measures of the FTO program. Further, it was recommended that a systematic training methodology be implemented to ensure that all field training mentors are fully educated on the programs goals, objectives, and evaluation system. Finally, it was recommended that a structural equation model be developed to allow the agency to understand the unique contribution of their current recruiting, selection, and training programs to the performance of their officers in the field.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-11152010-085801 |
| Date | 17 November 2010 |
| Creators | Caro, Cary Allen |
| Contributors | Van Gemmert, Arend W.A., Johnson, Earl C., Naquin, Sharon S., Verma, Satish, Burnett, Michael F. |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-11152010-085801/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
Page generated in 0.1703 seconds